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“I’ve shown you a lot of places, but perhaps there is one that will be the most meaningful to you.”
The smell had been the first thing Lawrence had noticed upon opening the door. Death hung heavy to every corner of the bathroom. This place was no longer a place of the living world. It was a tomb guarded by death itself, waiting for its next victim to fall into its spiderweb. It seemed as if nothing had changed since the last time Lawrence had been here, except for the addition of another body.
Lawrence’s eyes fell upon the body of his fellow captive, still chained to the pipe. Guilt instantly consumed Lawrence. He hadn’t brought back help like he had promised. Had Adam died alone in the darkness? Had he witnessed this other man’s death? So many questions and no way to have them answered. John was gone and Adam was gone. There was no one left in the Jigsaw cult but Lawrence and Mark Hoffman.
Lawrence walked into the room, looking to the corner where his shrivelled up foot lay forgotten. He could still hear his own screams echoing in his ears as phantom pain gnawed at his leg. It felt unreal being here again. It felt like walking through a memory. Lawrence stepped around the unknown dead man and over to the far corner.
Adam stayed tucked against the pipes in the corner as if he had been hiding, or perhaps sleeping, when death had come for him. Lawrence sighed and reached a hand into his coat pocket where his fingers brushed against a small key. It had been included in the envelope that John had sent him and Lawrence had not been made aware of its purpose, but now Lawrence had an idea of just what this key might go to.
“Where the fuck have you been?”
Lawrence jumped hearing the voice. He should have been the only one here. Who else would even know where this place was? Maybe Hoffman would know, but the voice wasn’t deep enough. It sounded angry, struggling to keep steady. Lawrence slowly turned around, ready for a confrontation.
He hadn’t expected to find Adam staring at him.
“Adam?” Lawrence quickly looked back to see that Adam’s rotten corpse was still sitting in its place.
“Where were you?” Adam demanded. His hands were balled into fists at his sides, his jaw clenched in anger. Lawrence had to be hallucinating. It was a form of trauma or his guilt manifesting now that he returned here. It had to be. Lawrence rubbed his eyes trying to make it go away. Adam was dead.
“Answer me!” Adam yelled.
Adam was dead. This wasn’t real. It wasn’t real. Lawrence squeezed his eyes shut tighter, willing it away. He had seen the body for himself. Adam was dead. If he just ignored it, the hallucination would go away.
“Answer me, Lawrence! Where the fuck were you?”
He wasn’t going away.
“Adam?” Lawrence opened his eyes. Adam had not gone away and still stood there, waiting for a response from the doctor. He looked just the same as Lawrence had left him, his shirt soaked in blood, pants and bare feet covered in dirt. There was still a chain on his foot that led back to the pipe where the corpse laid, but this one appeared much longer.
“Who the fuck else?” Adam growled. “You promised you’d bring back help, Lawrence. You promised me! Where have you been?”
“You’re not real,” Lawrence said, shaking his head.
“Not real? Not real!?” Adam stormed over and grabbed Lawrence’s arm. Lawrence could feel the pressure of Adam’s tight grip. Adam pushed him back up against the wall pinning him easily despite Lawrence being taller.
“How this then? Look pretty fucking real now, huh?”
“What are you?” Lawrence whispered. Adam moved closer, his face inches from Lawrence’s. There was pure hatred and anger in his green eyes.
“Your worst nightmare.”
Lawrence couldn’t wrap his mind around this. Was this some kind of dream? He didn’t remember taking a nap and he had sworn that he had come to this place right after his shift at the hospital. That all had been very real. Was this even real?
“But you’re-”
“Dead? Yeah, take a look-” Adam pointed at the corpse. “There I am, Larry! Dead and forgotten where no one will ever find me. Choked to death by fucking cling wrap.”
“Cling wrap?”
“A mercy kill.”
Lawrence swallowed. “Adam, I didn’t know where you were. I passed out after crawling out. I was found and revived, but I kept passing out over time. I thought you had already died. I tried to bring help, I really did. I told him that you were still here. I told him-”
“Told who?” Adam demanded.
“Jigsaw. He revived me after. Had me in his home. He told me that you’d be taken care of. I thought, oh God, Adam I thought he was helping you!” Lawrence said, feeling tears well up in his eyes. “It’s all my fault! I didn’t know!”
Adam released him backing off as Lawrence continued to sob. He had tried so hard to keep Adam alive during their test and yet he was the cause of his death without knowing. There had been blood staining Lawrence’s hands this entire time, invisible to his own eye. Lawrence continued to apologize again and again, knowing that each apology could never truly repair the damage that had been done.
“You didn’t know,” Adam said softly.
“Why do you believe me?” Lawrence asked, sniffling.
“I’m dead, Lawrence. I can just tell when you’re lying and you’re not. Don’t ask it doesn’t make sense to me either. I’m like a ghost or something, but I can’t get out of this place. It’s like whenever I try there’s some kind of barrier.” Adam sighed and sat on the floor next to Zep’s body. He looked at the dead man.
“Poor bastard was like us, Larry. He was just another pawn in all this. He never harmed your family. He just didn’t want to die. He thought we could all get out of this alive.”
“How do you know that?” Lawrence asked.
“After I died, I found him sitting here waiting. We talked for a while and I forgave him before he just disappeared. Then it was just me and our bodies. Until the others came.”
“Others?”
“A kid and Amanda. They were in some other kind of Jigsaw test I think. Amanda and I went to college together. Broke my heart to see them. He was so young, Lawrence. He couldn’t have been older than seventeen.” Adam ran his hand through his hair. “Then the big guy came in chasing them. He cut off the back of his neck, then the kid used your hacksaw to slit his throat. Fuck, he was so young.”
Adam went quiet for a few minutes and Lawernce did not dare break the silence. It was Adam’s time to speak, not Lawrence’s. Lawrence had done enough speaking. Adam looked back at Lawrence, his eyes broken and hopeless.
“I want to go home, Larry.”
Lawrence carefully sat down in front of Adam and wrapped his arms around him. Adam hugged him back, nuzzling his face into Lawrence’s neck. Adam felt so small and so cold. Lawrence wondered if Adam had always felt like this. He wished he had gotten to hold him before.
“We can make this right,” Lawrence said. “Jigsaw is dead, Adam, but there’s a man out there who is trying to be like him, only he isn’t letting anyone get out alive. I have to stop him, Adam. I can make this all stop.”
“I know you can. You have to help the other people like us.”
“I will, but first I’m going to help you.”
“Me?”
Lawrence reached into his pocket and held up the key.
“He gave me this. He didn’t tell me why, but I think I know what it’s for now. You’re going to go home, Adam.” Lawrence turned away from him and back to the corpse in the corner. Carefully, Lawrence pushed the key into the ankle shackle and released the binding. It fell away from the decaying foot with a clank.
The chain connected to Adam’s spirit began to dissolve until it was no more. Adam rubbed his ankle in shock before looking back at Lawrence.
“I’m free?”
Lawrence nodded. “You’re free, Adam. I’m sorry we weren’t able to know each other better in life. I wish I could give you a second chance like you deserve.”
Adam stood up. “You already did, Lawrence. Thank you. I forgive you. For everything. Just do me one favor, okay?”
“Anything.”
“Live a good life, Lawrence. Don’t fuck it up again.”
Adam gave him a wink before he turned and walked to the door leading out to the long hallway. As he passed over the threshold, he disappeared leaving Lawrence alone with the abandoned corpses. Once more, the bathroom had become a memorial to the dead with Lawrence as the only man to mourn those who had been lost.
Lawrence would continue to live for those who could not. He would tell Adam’s story and honor this promise unlike the last one. Mark Hoffman would be stopped.
Lawrence promised it.